What Kind Of Stamp Cancel Is This ?

I see this kind of stamped cancel once and a while on old postcards and don't know what it means.

The big "T" of that style usually indicates that the card or letter was sent with insufficient postage, I.e. there is postage due. Haven't seen this particular one before - very nice!

There should be a handwritten (usually in blue pencil or crayon) numeral near this cancel indicating exactly how much is due from the recipient.

The captial T in a circle stands for "Taxe Perçue" which is French for postage paid. You sometimes see this marking on mail that has gone between two countries such as mail that has come to the US from some other country. The reason it is short for some French words is that French is the official language of the Universal Postal Union which oversees international mail exchanges between countries around the world. The marking on your cover appears to have arrived in the USA and entered the US mail system in New York. These T markings are not rare but they are not found on all international mail either.

I would reiterate that the large letter "T" indicates that postage is due on a letter or postcard. Kimo is correct that taxe percue means postage paid, but that is NOT what the "T" stands for. It stands for taxe, which indicates a short payment by the sender.

A clear explanation of this marking is given by "wt1" in his answer to a question by "partime" concerning his Stamp Community Forum posting "CUBA POSTAGE DUE CANCEL" of 8/10/2013. Another clear explanation of the "T' cancel can be found at Linn's at the link: "http://www.linns.com/howto/refreshercourse.aspx" on the subject of postage dues.

Here is another variety of the "T" cancel. Usually, the "T" was inscribed inside a circlular or rectalinear outline. Note the handwritten "12 1/2" (pfennigs) below the "T".

Thanks for the correction bookbndrbob. It is always good to learn.

Thank you for the explanation. But what does the "D" under the T stand for?

Peter

Peter, I wondered the same thing. Hopefully, some SCF participant with New York postal markings expertise will see this topic. Sometimes information gets lost with age; maybe not in this case.

Hi,I solved everything by listening here and talked on another site.(I still could be wrong though as a newbie but the answer makes sense to me.

When the stamp has a D in it as well as the T it means it is for international mail and that the correct postage due amount is decided at the destination,that's what the D is,destination.

Sorry,I mean't outgoing international mail.

Sorry again,I forgot another thing(I was in a rush when I put up my post it was 2 minutes to 9 and a movie was coming on).

I learned 99.9% of these T with D stamps are on out going postcards with only writing on the card and the recipient's address,no return address is present and the postage has to be collected from somebody so they stamp it with the T with D so the postage can be calculated and collected at the destination.

Huffy, thank you and that makes sense.
Also, I notice you took three posts to answer, which makes it a bit confusing. You know, it is possible to edit your post by clicking on the little picture with a writing pad and a pencil just above your post! It makes things a bit less complicated.

Peter

I know,sorry,I was trying to rush to watch a movie,listening and writing at the same time,then I sat down and remembered something,posted again,then again,I'm writing now cause it's a bad movie and didn't watch it LOL.

I like huffy already. 49 posts and most of them spent clarifying what he first said!

Welcome!

(Yeah, I'm teasing. What was the movie, dammit?)